View of four women making olive oil by hand in a rocky gorge. The women are sitting on the ground next to a stone water channel, each with a large metal bowl of olives soaking in water, squeezing the oil into large metal tins. A girl stands facing the camera.

Collection type: Photograph
Description: View of four women making olive oil by hand in a rocky gorge. The women are sitting on the ground next to a stone water channel, each with a large metal bowl of olives soaking in water, squeezing the oil into large metal tins. A girl stands facing the camera.
Geographical reference: Tunisia
Africa > Northern Africa > Tunisia; Tozeur Governorate; Chebika
Cultural groups: Berber
Person: Expedition or compiler Jenny Balfour-Paul; Photographer Jenny Balfour-Paul; PRM source Jenny Balfour-Paul
Date / Period: Date of photograph: February 1976
Acquisition information: Donated: 14/05/2018
Photographic process: Transparency Colour
Dimensions: Image dimension 35 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 2018.137.458
Research and responses: This scene was recorded in Glencairn Balfour-Paul's memoir Bagpipes in Babylon: "In the craggy sub-deserts of Tunisia's Berber south we came upon things to remember. One strange activity we witnessed was the production of olive oil by four old Berber ladies at Chebika by hand. They were kneeling on the edge of a stone water channel in a remote gorge, using the passing water to help them squeeze oil, very slowly, out of pre-hammered olives into empty old tomato tins. All they would accept from us in exchange for a tinful - and it tasted excellent - was a few aspirins." Ref: Balfour Paul, G., 2006. Bagpipes in Babylon: A Lifetime in the Arab World and Beyond. London: Tauris, p.243. [JMC 23/07/2020]

Search terms: Food and Drink